Love and Lust
by TheBlackPanther6
Summary: Ariadne believes in two things; Love and Lust. But was she right in who she thought these feelings went to? Ariadnes boyfriend is different, and when she finds out why she doesn't know what to do. Will Arthur be there for her? Eames thinks so..
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic so please don't be mean haha :) I hope it's not too bad.

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><p>Love and Lust is not the same thing.<p>

Love comes from the heart and Lust comes from the brain.

Well then, why does she seem to feel both? Can you feel both love and lust? Ariadne didn't even think that was possible. You can't help who you fall in love with, it just happens. And when you know, you know.

Henry was a great guy. Smart, funny, attractive. But he was known for being a bit of a player. Arthur, Cobb and Eames had all said they don't trust him. But they knew they couldn't stop Ariadne from being with him. What could she say? He was a catch.

Ariadne first met him when out with a few of the girls from college. It was her first night out after the Fischer case and he was eyeing her at the bar. He came over, offered her a drink and the rest was history.

Although, recently, he had been acting weird; extremely distant when they were not together and almost too lovey-dovey when they were. Deep down Ariadne had a feeling he was cheating on her. She knew it was perfectly possible as he cheated on his last girlfriend... with Ariadne. She hadn't known that at the time though, they were walking through the park holding hands and kissing and his (then) girlfriend and her sister had seen them. It didn't even cross Ariadne's mind, until now, that he could do the same to her. She wasn't going to tell the guys any of this though, they would just say "I told you so".

Ariadne was not even sure if she actually liked Henry; he just came around at the right time and she had thought a relationship would be right for her. Now that she came to think about it, a relationship would be right for her, just not with Henry. Who was she kidding? She didn't even like him, he was annoying, lived off his parents, and never had anything even slightly interesting to say. He was just there. As Ariadne said, how annoying. Why was she with him again?

But one thing she was certain about was that it was his car that just went past the small cafe Ariadne was sitting in. And he wasn't alone.

She was meeting Eames in five minutes and had arrived there early. Ariadne had wanted fresh air and time to think about everything. Should she tell him? He was like a big brother to her, but he might tell Arthur. And of all people, she didn't want Arthur to judge her; his opinion mattered the most.

As if by magic, the familiar British man walked into the tiny cafe and walked straight over.

"Hello Darling" Eames said to the girl.

"Hey Eames" Ariadne replied. She realised then that she couldn't tell him, until she figured out what was happening with Henry. Maybe even Yusuf was the best one to talk to, him having four sisters and all.

"How are you this fine morning?" the British man asked.

"Oh you know, very tired from drawing mazes all night." Ariadne answered.

"You know you should really take a break once in a while." He said. "Doesn't lover boy get worried as to where you are?"

Ariadne immediately tensed up; she was not expecting him to ask that. Thankfully he didn't notice her change in expression as waitress had walked past and he was now checking her out. "No, he has lots of work to do as well so it works out well, really".

"I see" Eames said, his focus returning to her after the waitress had passed. "Well, anyway, I am here to tell you that I think you should stop seeing him."

Wait, what did he just say? "Excuse me?" She stammered out.

"We all know he is a sleaze bag. No, don't even deny it Ariadne" he said after seeing the look of complete and utter disbelief on her face. "He is obviously up to no good."

"No he isn't! Have you all been talking about this? My relationship is perfectly fine thank you very much!" Ariadne fired back.

"Yes we have all been talking about this, but no one else has the balls to say it to you." Eames replied. "Cobb feels as though he should stay out of it, yet that hasn't stopped him from getting pissed off every time you mention the boy. Yusuf is extremely intimidated by you for some unknown reason so he wouldn't be able to tell you. Saito isn't even here to tell you half the time, but yet he has still noticed. And Arthur? What can I even say about Arthur? He is too darn in love with you to want to hurt your feelings! So yeah, that leaves me."

She didn't know if she was more shocked about the fact that they'd all been talking about her or that he had just said that Arthur was in love with her.

Well, this is going to make things confusing for her. Thanks Eames, thanks very much. Instead she just said the next thing that came to mind after hearing his little speech.

"Well, Cobb is right! You should stay out of it!" She shot out. "I'm happy..."

She knew that he had picked up the questioning sound in her voice when saying the last part. Busted.

"Are you?" Eames questioned. "Because recently, I haven't been getting that impression. You come into work late with bags under your eyes looking like you've not slept for a month! You're work, I'm sorry to say this Ariadne, has not been as good as it normally is! Whenever Arthur tries to talk to you, you almost run a mile!"

She was about to deny the part about Arthur but knew it would be no good. To be honest, Eames was probably right.

"No one else seems to see this Ariadne, but I know you don't love Henry. The others seem to think you're too in love to notice anything bad about him. Arthur especially..." he had to add that didn't he? "Ari, I know you're only doing this to get back at Arthur".

"I don't know what you're talking about Eames." She replied simply.

"Please, don't even go there Ariadne! Come on. You know? Two months ago? At that bar in London?" he inquired. She tried to avoid his eyes. Yes she did know what he was talking about, but she did not want to admit that to Eames.

They had gone to London to ensure that they had not received a tail after the Fischer job in case he realized they'd practically hacked his brain. In celebration of successfully doing the job, they had decided to go out to a bar near to the hotel they were staying at. Ariadne was still confused about the kiss in the second level of Fischer's dream, and after much thought about it on the flight to London, she had come to the conclusion that he wouldn't have just done it as a 'distraction' that didn't go to plan. Arthur was a clever man, he didn't get many things wrong, and so he would have known that wouldn't have worked. They were having lots of drinks, and it was Arthur's round. When he got to the bar, Ariadne could see a pretty brunette girl staring at him, he was gorgeous so why wouldn't she? She knew that she had to talk to Arthur about the kiss, and while he was alone she thought that this was as good time as ever to go and sort this out. Ariadne excused herself from the table and walked over to where Arthur was, by the time she had got through the crowd the pretty brunette had beaten her to it. Arthur got something out of his pocket, his business card, and handed it over to her. From where Ariadne stood it seemed obvious that she was flirting with him, and it was apparent that he was flirting right back. So much for the kiss meaning something then. The pair of them got chatting and by the way they were getting along, it seemed like they'd known each other for years. Ariadne returned to the table, coming up with some excuse that she had gone to the toilet, and subtly watched the couple from where she sat. She did not however notice Eames watching her, he didn't miss a thing that guy. He could see that Ariadne was fuming inside because of what Arthur was doing. Does she seriously think that Eames doesn't know something happened in that hotel in Fischers dream between the two of them? He wasn't born yesterday you know. But he also knew that Ariadne had misunderstood, and that the brunette at the bar wasn't who she thought she was. Not just some little slut who has come along to see if Arthur was interested, they _had_ met before. Arthur had called the girl to come and visit him, but he hadn't expected to see her so soon. Arthur wasn't supposed to tell anyone where they were, he would get in trouble with Cobb later. Everyone had gone back to the hotel, the brunette girl included, and Ariadne went straight to her room, not even bothering to say anything to the rest of the team. It was the first time since her dog, Dobby, had died (she was a fan of Harry Potter at the time) that Ariadne had cried. She was actually hoping something good would have come from that kiss. But that is obviously not what Arthur wanted. So she would have to deal with it. She would find someone better than Arthur, the jerk. Couldn't he see that she was falling for him? Obviously not.

Now, sat in the cafe with Eames, she realises he is right. "Eames, that's enough. Nothing is wrong with my boyfriend and Arthur doesn't feel that way about me. If he did, he would have said something by now. He would show that he cares about me. He is always so professional that I don't think he even has the time for love!"

"He doesn't show that he cares about you?" he asked quietly, sounding astonished.

"No, if anything he hates me. He is always moody and never wants to talk to me. He is always forcing me to do stupid training, when a lot of the time Cobb doesn't even let me in the dream anyway!" she responded grumpily.

"You think that he hates you?" Eames argued. "So you think he hates you when he gets you coffee all the time when he leaves the workshop? You think he hates you when he puts you through so much training for the dreams because he doesn't want you to get hurt? You think he hates you when he doesn't respond nicely to your weekend plans that always involve Henry? It's because he is sick of hearing about him Ariadne! He doesn't want to hear about Henry being in your plans; Arthur wants to hear you telling someone else about your plans which involve him!"

She didn't quite know what to say to that. That couldn't be the truth. "Eames, I know Arthur doesn't love me." Although now, Ariadne wasn't so sure. "If he did, he would never have gone off with that girl in London. I don't care what you say Eames, to be honest with you I wasn't very nice to him after that."

"Somehow, I think he will forgive you, darling." Eames assured.

Ariadne was lost in thought after this, her mind was reeling and Eames had just made things a whole lot more confusing.

"Anyway, I'm going to leave them to your thoughts as now you're obviously not going to listen to me" Eames said dryly. "I will see you tomorrow darling, don't be late."

"See you tomorrow Eames" she said without much enthusiasm. She started staring off into space until Eames got her attention again by calling her name.

"Oh and Ariadne, I'm the forger." Eames said, and then added: "I miss nothing."


	2. Chapter 2

When she got to her apartment Ariadne noticed two things. One was that her door was already unlocked. Two, that her hand automatically went to the pepper spray that Arthur had given her in her coat pocket. Always thinking ahead that boy.

She warily opened the door and peered round. Everything seemed in order. She pushed it open further and noticed a chair on its side in the corner of the room. She slowly walked into the room, and something crunched under her foot. Looking down she noticed that it was glass, from a bottle by the looks of it. Ariadne took in the sight of the apartment; someone had definitely been in here.

Coming from the lounge, she heard the sound of bottles clinking together. The intruder was still here.

Getting the pepper spray ready in her left hand, she grabbed the nearest object that could be used as a weapon (an ornament her mother had sent her from her travels to Africa) – she didn't like it anyway. She walked slowly to the kitchen trying not to make any noise; At least she'd have the element of surprise.

Hiding behind the wall, she readied herself for the attack. Any normal person would have just called the police from the hallway, but after Inception, Ariadne wasn't that normal. Maybe Arthurs training sessions would pay off once and for all. Arthur. If only he was here right now, he'd know what to do.

She couldn't hold this off any longer, she stormed into the kitchen and went to strike the intruder with the wooden object. Just before she hit the target, she stopped. She had caught a glimpse at who the person in her kitchen was.

Why was he here?

He was drunk; off his face. He was drinking straight from a bottle of vodka. What a mess. He was lounging in one of her kitchen chairs, his clothes ripped and muddy. He saw Ariadne walk in out of the corner of his eye. "Roxy? What took you so long?" he stammered out, he was slurring his words.

"Guess again" she replied dryly.

Henry turned to look at her, disbelief masked his face. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon".

"It's my apartment, what do you expect? I do live here you know." She responded. Ariadne was getting angrier by the minute. Who was Roxy? And why was she supposed to be at my apartment?

"Oh, ha..." he looked agitated. He tried to straighten the jacket he was wearing, which looked like it was once owned by a farmer many years ago. "I thought you had to work late tonight".

"Yeah well they sent me home, to sleep, so could you, you know, leave please?" Ariadne knew he was supposed to be her boyfriend but right now, she was just too tired to deal with him, especially in his drunken state.

"Erm, yeah sure..." he readied himself to leave, picking up his phone and rapidly sending a text message. No doubt to this 'Roxy'.

He headed towards the door that led to the lounge. "Henry!" came a voice from the hallway. A female voice. Henry stopped dead at the door. He turned to look at Ariadne to see if she had heard, yes she had heard dipshit, she wasn't deaf.

"Who is that? And why are the hell are they calling for you at my apartment?" Ariadne knew the answer to this question but needed to hear it from him. She wanted him to have to admit it.

"I don't know." He was pretending to be oblivious.

"Don't give me that, you know perfectly well who that is." She was close to breaking point. "Do not lie to me Henry."

At that moment, the Roxy girl waltzed in. She had platinum blonde hair, a short leather skirt that more resembled a belt and a scarlet top that had such a low cleavage there was hardly any point in wearing one. Ariadne felt like telling her that she had left her dignity at home. She didn't notice Ariadne straight away evidently, as she only seemed to have eyes for Henry. That and he was blocking her view from Ariadne. "Oh hey, thought you'd ditched me for a second, sorry I had to leave. But since you didn't bring any protection... wouldn't want anything bad to happen now would we? I forgot to mention what a nice place you have!" she must of had the most infuriating voice Ariadne had ever heard.

"Thanks." Ariadne said to the blonde sarcastically. It was then that the girl first noticed Ariadne. The look on her face was priceless, she had not been expecting to see her here.

"Oh erm, sorry. Did I interrupt something?" No that's fine; you can come by my apartment anytime to have sex with my boyfriend. Seriously, don't worry about it, she thought.

"Yes, actually you did. Now if you wouldn't mind getting out of _my_ apartment, I need to deal with my _now_ ex-boyfriend." She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Ari don't be like that."

"Don't call me Ari, Henry. Only my friends call me that, and right now, you don't make the cut."

Roxy was slowly backing out of the door and looked disgustedly at Henry. Good.

"Roxy, wait..."

"No, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!" she screamed. "You told me you dumped her because she was a bitch!"

"Wow, you really are quite the charmer, Henry." She said sardonically. He looked like he wanted to die... in his lovely farmer's jacket. At least he'd look like a douche doing so. Ha.

"I didn't say that!" As if he was even trying this. Ariadne was siding with the slut.

"Yes you did! That night, in the hotel, three weeks ago!" She blurted out.

Realisation clicked. "Oh so that last-minute business trip to Denmark was actually some shag fest?" Ariadne was furious. Not just because he cheated, obviously more than once, but because she'd even let this pointless relationship last for so long. Why had she even chosen him out of any of the guys in that bar?

"Don't make it sound so bad!" The cheek of some people.

"Don't make it sound so bad? It is bad! You know the whole point of a relationship is being committed?" Then she turned to the girl: "Isn't it time you left already?"

Roxy took one last look at Henry and stormed out of the apartment. Silence followed. Awkward.

All Ariadne could do was look at the floor. He was staring at her with menacing eyes. He was mad that she had just let his next slut on the list go. Well she was pretty sure that there were plenty more where she came from.

"I didn't show commitment because you never do! You're always going to work which I know nothing about, you're always hanging out with guys that you never want to talk about!" Henry shouted at the top of his voice. It looked like his head was about to explode.

"I hang out with those guys because I work with them! And they sure as hell care about me a lot more than you do!"

"Who is Arthur?"

What?

"Someone I work with!"

"Well then why does he always text and call?"

"Because I work with him!"

"Well then tell him to back off! You have a boyfriend you know! He needs to learn some boundaries!" Seriously dude, you need to take a chill pill, she thought.

"I _did_ have a boyfriend thank you very much. And no, I will not tell him to back off!"

"Are you seeing him?"

"No I am not! But he certainly would be a big improvement to you!" He looked like he'd just been punched in the face. "And you're one to talk!"

"At least I don't constantly text them all the time!"

"Oh because that makes it so much better and I don't text him all the time thank you very much!"

"Yes you do! I've seen it!"

"You're never around to see it! You're too busy hooking up with some tramp you found in a strip club!" She was astounded. "Have you been looking through my phone?"

"Yes! I have! And you know want to know why? It's because I don't trust you!"

"Well, gee, thanks! So why are you even here?"

"I was supposed to have a better night with a girl who actually gives a shit!"

"That girl? You think she gives a shit about _you_? All she wants is sex!"

"She's better than you!"

"Well go sleep with her then! And get the fuck out of my apartment!" She was livid. "How did you even get in?"

"Anyone can pick a lock you little slut!" He was getting vicious. "And don't _you_ lie to me! I know you're seeing that guy. And that this relationship was only to make him jealous. Don't think I don't know the way you were looking at him at that bar we bumped into him in!"

"Well you didn't seem to complain before!" She was getting close to tears, but she would not cry in front of him.

"Because you're always oblivious to what I have to say! You're just a little whore chasing after any guy that will pay a little bit of attention to you!"

"Stop accusing me of things that haven't happened!" She'd passed breaking point. "Now will you GET OUT OF MY FUCKING APARTMENT!"

"You just embarrassed me!" He was seething. "You're going to pay for that!"

"I'm glad I embarrassed you! You're a complete dickhead, you deserve it!"

That was it. He'd popped. It happened so quickly, she didn't even see him draw his hand back. She noticed it just as he was about to strike. His hand hitting the side of her face powered such pain. It passed through her cheek. It felt like he'd thrown a rock at her face. But it didn't stop there.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: I have changed the rating because this chapter mentions rape, which I didn't intend to include before.

And also thank you to for helping me get rid of some mistakes :)

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><p>Numb. All she felt was numbness.<p>

Her body was completely stiff. Her left cheek was pressed against the cold floor tile and she could feel that it was slightly swollen, along with her eye in which the pain was pulsing to her brain. She reached up to it with her hand and found a warm, sticky substance by her brow. Blood.

Ariadne rolled over onto her back causing her to groan. Her hip hurt so much. She pulled up her top to inspect the wound to see that half of her side had begun to turn purple. She also noticed that the top of her arm, shoulder and upper thigh were painful to move.

What had happened to her? She finally started to take in her surroundings; she was still in her kitchen but now on the floor. It was dark so it must have been night time, meaning she must have been passed out for a few hours. Glancing at the clock on the oven, it told her she was right as it read quarter to eleven.

Ariadne tried to sit up and as she did, memories of the night before came flooding back to her. She was suddenly engulfed in fear. Ariadne knew that she had to get out of her apartment because she knew he might come back for her. He hadn't intended on killing her, but now that he knew she had only done it to make Arthur jealous, he might just do that. He also seemed like the type to do it.

Holding onto the counter she hoisted herself off the ground. She had a feeling she would barely be able to walk and when she moved towards the doorway her suspicions were confirmed.

She grabbed her hoodie from the side of the sofa and made her way to the door. She pulled the hood up so that if anyone saw her they wouldn't see the state of her face. Ariadne didn't want to deal with anyone asking questions.

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><p>Ariadne wasn't even certain of how she managed to get to the warehouse in one piece. She opened the door and noticed that a few of the lights were still on. Was someone still here? She looked around the large room and saw someone stood by one of the desks. Ariadne dreaded the thought that Henry had found her at work. The man had a gun raised, ready to attack. He looked at Ariadne properly and then dropped the gun on the desk.<p>

"What are you doing here? I thought you were breaking in." Said a familiar voice that had a trace of humour in it.

Ariadne finally took in the features of the man. He was wearing an expensive three-piece suit, had dark slicked back hair and had that gorgeous smirk on his face. She didn't think she'd ever been so happy to see him. By this point, Ariadne could no longer hold back the tears. She hurt all over and didn't know what to tell him.

"Oh, erm... I thought I'd come and get some work done" she was trying not to show that she was crying.

"At this time of night?" Arthur questioned.

"Well what are you doing here?" her voice cracked. The pain in her head was almost unbearable and she was shaking like a leaf. Ariadne was scared, she knew she'd be safe with Arthur there but what would he say to her? He had warned her not to go out with Henry in the first place.

"Ariadne, are you okay?" Concern filled his voice. He moved towards her. She still had her hood up. Thank God, she didn't want Arthur to see her like this.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She didn't sound too sure. She looked away from him, and tried to make herself look busy. But this was Arthur; you can't hide anything from him.

He caught sight of her eye as she turned towards her desk. "Hey, what happened?" He grabbed hold of her wrist so she couldn't turn away. He drew his hand up towards her eye and traced the line of the bruise. Ariadne flinched from the pain. He pushed her hood down so that he could take a better look at her.

Ariadne choked on a sob and the tears started streaming down her face. She couldn't even get her words out. She was expecting Arthur to be annoyed that she wasn't telling him what had happened but instead he took her in his arms and just held her for a while as she let out the tears she had been holding back. He didn't even seem to mind that she was getting his suit wet.

When she had finally got a grip of herself she stepped away from him and looked up at his worried face. Ariadne almost looked embarrassed.

"It was him wasn't it?" Arthur whispered.

She only gave a slight nod and his face flickered with anger. Arthur was mad; it looked like a hundred and one things were going through his head at that moment.

He took her by the hand and led her to one of the comfy chairs. They had recently upgraded from the uncomfortable lawn chairs. When she went to sit down she gasped in pain and couldn't bring herself to sit down properly, he looked at her with unease. "Where else are you hurt?"

"Erm, my hip, my shoulder and my leg." She stuttered out.

He looked at her hip. "Do you mind?" He asked her permission. She nodded her head.

He lifted her shirt up slightly and saw the now blackening bruise that covered a large area of her side. He took a sharp intake of breath. He gently touched the mark and she tried to steady her breath, it hurt, a lot. He dropped the shirt and it fell back into place.

Ariadne pulled back the sleeve of her top so he could inspect her shoulder. She couldn't see it but his face was that of a grieving child.

"Ari... What happened?" He didn't ask to look at her leg; maybe he thought he was invading her privacy too much. Arthur didn't push her on an answer, but she wanted to tell him. Arthur would be someone Ariadne could always rely on, no matter how much he didn't appear to feel the same way about her that she did him.

She tried to regain composure before she said anything. She wanted to tell him everything without crying too much, she just needed him to know. She started with when she got home, she told him about Roxy, and she didn't even miss out the bit that included Arthur, but did not look to see his reaction when she said it.

When Ariadne got to the part about him slapping her, Arthur looked like he wanted to be sick. Join the club. At that point, he had taken a hold of her hand and was rubbing it slowly with his thumb.

"After he had slapped me, he had grabbed a hold of my shoulders and pushed me into the side of the table. He just shook me and shook me." The tears stained her face. If only she had thought to bring some make up. "He pinned me to the table and I just couldn't get away, he grabbed my leg so hard. And then he..." She almost couldn't bring herself to say the next part. "He..."

He pulled her closer to him and she sat comfortably in his arms. "Hey, it's okay" He whispered reassuringly. He wiped away the tear that slid down her face.

She looked up into his eyes. "He tried to rape me." It was barely audible. She couldn't say it at a normal volume. But she knew he heard.

"I tried to fight back. But when I did, he threw me on the ground." She started to stare at his tie to avoid the eye contact. Ariadne didn't want Arthur to be disappointed in her. "He kept kicking me in the stomach and my leg." Ariadne found that she was starting to play with is tie, anything to keep herself busy and to stop herself from mentally breaking down. "Then he bent down and just kept hitting me. I couldn't do anything to stop him. Then eventually, when he punched me, I guess I blacked out."

He had been so quiet throughout all of this that now Ariadne just wanted him to say something. Anything.

Arthur lifted her chin with one finger so that she was looking directly into his warm brown eyes. "Listen to me Ari; he is not going to hurt you. Ever again. I won't let it happen. From now on, you must tell me where you're going, and you need to call me if anything, even just slightly, suspicious happens."

"But..."

"No buts. I'm sorry that I didn't warn you more... seriously, about him. We knew from the start something wasn't right with him. But we chose to ignore it because we thought you were happy." Arthur was taking the blame for what Henry did?

She laughed a pathetic, sarcastic laugh. "Arthur, I never liked him." She was shaking her head incredulously. "Didn't you see I was doing it to make you jealous?"

That shut him up.

Ariadne looked around the room to see if there was anything that would suffice being slept on. She was suddenly growing very tired. She spotted a blanket by Yusufs desk and got up to get it. It was a bit threadbare, but it would certainly do the job.

"What are you doing?" He had finally got over the shock from Ariadnes last statement.

"I'm going to try and sleep. Although I do not think I will be getting very much." She knew she was too scared to sleep, but she was worn out. She needed to go to bed.

"You're going to sleep here?" Ariadne had never realised how many questions Arthur asked. For a point man, he really was clueless.

"Yes... I'm not going back to that apartment." He understood. "I'm scared he will..." He understood fully. Ariadne was a grown woman, but she couldn't put on a strong front all of the time. But sleeping at the warehouse? It wasn't the safest place, or the most comfortable. But Arthur wasn't going to tell her that.

"Okay, but you're not sleeping here." He stood up and walked over to her. He held out his hand for her to take.

"Well where am I going to...?" She was confused.

"You can stay at my apartment. The others will only wake you up when they come in, in the morning. And you need all the sleep you can get." He stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't want to... impose." She said shyly.

"It would make me feel much better knowing you were actually getting some sleep."

She reluctantly took his hand and followed him out of the warehouse door. He was still holding her hand as he helped her get into his (very expensive) car. They pulled out of the lot and drove towards his apartment.

To get to Arthurs apartment he had to drive past Ariadnes. When her apartment building was in view she noticed a familiar blue car waiting outside. Arthur noticed this as well and tensed up.

Ariadne was definitely not going to get any sleep that night, whether she liked it or not.


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note: Sorry this has taken a while for me to post!

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><p>The water falling down on her was a pain relief. It washed her stress away. It wouldn't stay like this for long, but she'd relish in it for now.<p>

Ariadne stepped out of the shower and reached for the towel on the counter. She stared at herself in the mirror and finally saw the wounds on her body. She was the victim of an abusive relationship.

Ariadne dried herself off and changed into the clothes that Arthur had left her; sweatpants and a t-shirt. Who knew the point man owned such things; his usual attire was always some sort of suit.

Arthurs apartment was exactly how Ariadne imagined it to be; perfection. It was a big penthouse apartment like the type you might see on 'Cribs'. Everything was immaculate; Very much like Arthur. She wished she could keep her apartment as tidy as this.

When they had arrived here, he had told her to make herself at home. And it really would be nice to call this apartment home, let's put it that way. She had decided to go in the shower to try and wash away any and all traces of Henry. Ariadne knew what Arthur was doing; panicking. She thought she'd leave him to it for a bit, let him get his head around what had happened. After all, she only just had herself.

Ariadne walked into the living room and Arthur looked up at her arrival. She looked uncomfortable. He was sitting on the couch with the TV turned on to some film starring Bruce Willis, he was most likely trying to make himself feel better. It seemed weird that Arthur would do such a normal thing like watching an action film on his couch, but it was a good weird.

She sat down next to him and he watched her do so. Ariadne put enough distance between the pair as to not make it awkward, considering what she had said to him earlier.

"How are you feeling now?" He was no longer paying any attention to the movie.

"A bit better, I'm just a bit tired though." Ariadne brought her knees up to her chin and hugged them. Arthur could tell that she was scared.

"You should get some sleep, come on you can use my room." He stood up and waited for her to follow.

"But where will you sleep?" She didn't like the idea of him not having anywhere to sleep, that and she was also trying to delay from going to sleep. Ariadne had a feeling that nightmares would come.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Conversation killer.

She followed him into his bedroom; she would have loved this if it was in a completely different situation. She climbed onto the king size bed and looked down at the bed cover sadly.

Arthur looked at her expectantly. He was waiting for her to say something.

Tears welled up in her eyes. No, she would not cry again. Arthur more than likely thought that she needed to get a grip of herself. She looked up at him. "I'm scared."

He walked over to her and sat on the bed facing her. "Hey, it's okay. You're safe here." He took her hands in his. She liked it when he did that. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Please, will you stay?" She pleaded.

He looked into her eyes. "Of course."

He moved to lie next to her and pulled the cover over the two of them. Ariadne snuggled up to him and he put his arm around her.

Arthur turned off the light and then whispered into her hair: "Get some sleep Ari."

She slowly drifted off to sleep, very much aware of the body next to her.

Ariadne awoke to the sound of someone talking. At first she felt disorientated. She looked around and noticed she was in Arthurs bed, and he was gone. But where he once lay, it was still warm.

She warily got out of the bed and walked towards the voice. She saw Arthur, in the living room, talking in a hushed tone to someone on the phone. He was obviously trying not to wake her. Too late.

Ariadne looked at the clock on the coffee table and it read quarter past one. Had she really slept that long? Wow, she must have been tired. At that point Arthur noticed Ariadne staring at him, his voice returned to its usual tone. He gave her a warm, reassuring smile. She couldn't help but smile back.

Arthur ended the conversation and put the phone back in the dock. He glanced at her and started towards the kitchen. "Are you feeling better?"

"A bit, everything really hurts though still." That was probably an understatement. It was so painful she didn't know if she could make it to the kitchen.

She did though, and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. She felt like she'd just done a twenty mile hike, yet she'd only walked from one room to the other. Ariadne had a feeling this was going to be a long recovery.

"That was Cobb on the phone, they were wondering where we were. I didn't want to wake you." He opened the fridge and got out a selection of food. He started to cook them something.

"How long have you been up?" she wondered if he'd been up for hours or if he had stayed in bed with her. She hoped it was the latter.

"I've only just got up; I did promise you I wouldn't go anywhere. But then the phone rang..." He was probably relieved to see that she was finally up. Farmer jacket boy wouldn't have done that. He'd have left by now and gone to get some other girl to sleep with.

"Oh." She didn't really know what to say to him, it was safe to say that it was a little bit awkward. "I'm sorry about all of this by the way. This probably wasn't how you planned out your evening."

"You're apologising for what happened to you?" He sounded baffled. He served up the food he was making – scrambled eggs – and passed her a plate.

"Thanks." She said, immediately digging in. "I guess I just shouldn't have gone out with him in the first place."

"Ari don't turn this back on yourself, it was him who was in the wrong." She loved the way he called her Ari. Especially since Henry no longer had the right to call her that. Ariadne knew that Arthur was right, Henry was a dickhead.

They spent the next five minutes eating in a comfortable silence. Arthur was a good cook and she definitely liked a man that could cook. That was another thing to add to the list of Arthurs many capabilities.

When they were finished Ariadne offered to help clean up but he instantly declined. He said something along the lines of her being "barely able to stand so no way in hell would she be able to clean". She sat back down and watched him work.

Arthur was an attractive man; he always somehow managed to look like he had walked straight from an Abercrombie poster. Thinking about Arthur's appearance made her suddenly very conscious of her own. She hastily stood up and walked to the mirror in the hallway. Arthur watched her reaction as it turned from apprehension to horror.

"Oh my god. I look like I've been hit by a truck." As if she had let Arthur see her like this, why hadn't she looked in the mirror before she came out of Arthur's bedroom? And then pretended she was asleep until he left out of boredom. But she knew he wouldn't leave, he was too kind to do such a thing.

"No you don't!" his reassurances weren't working.

"I need make up, badly." It's a shame it was at her apartment, and Henry knew where she lived. "Or plastic surgery... hey do you know of any plastic surgeons?"

"There is no way you need plastic surgery, promise me never to, I don't want you to change that face." Wow. What was that supposed to mean? "Now step away from the mirror."

She reluctantly did as she was told and slumped down on the sofa.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" she asked simply.

"Nothing is on the agenda for you today." He said, giving her an incredulous look. "I need to sort this out with the others."

"Are you going to the warehouse?" He was just going to leave her at his apartment?

"Yeah, I'm not going to ask them to come here. One, it's too suspicious and two, I thought you'd want time to relax, and them being here won't help you to do that." He had a point. But she didn't want to be left alone.

"Can I come with you?" Why was he so alarmed by this? "I don't want to be left alone."

Ariadne had finally managed to persuade him to let her go to the warehouse with him, much to his annoyance. She had tried her best to make herself look more presentable, but it was useless; her appearance had gone past the point of help.

On the drive to the warehouse, she could tell he looked nervous.

"Have you actually told them what happened?" Ariadne knew what was coming.

He glanced at her sheepishly. "Not exactly... I would have on the phone but then they would all panic and come to the apartment. And I thought you'd want more rest, so I was going to tell them now. And now you're coming too."

Well this was going to be interesting, she thought.

They pulled into the lot and she slowly got out of the car and Arthur immediately came to her assistance. He was such a helpful boy when you were injured. He helped her walk into the warehouse and with a lot of her weight on him, he had finally realised how hard it actually was for her to walk.

When the door to the warehouse opened she could see all of the others crowded around Cobbs desk, and every pair of eyes looked up at them on their arrival.

"What the fuck happened?" Eames blurted when he saw the sight of Ariadne. Trust him to be the first to say anything. It probably didn't help that Arthur was practically carrying her at this point.

"Guess." Was all Arthur said. Eames' face turned to thunder.

"I'm going to kill that son of a..."

"Eames." Ariadne interrupted. She didn't want to hear about it, if anything she was trying to forget. Ariadne knew she wouldn't be able to do that here but at least she wasn't alone.

Cobb walked over to Arthur and Ariande and helped him set her down on the sofa. Even though she'd just been sat in a car for about 10 minutes, it was like a weight had just been lifted off her shoulders when she sat down. "Yusuf, I think Ariadne here might need some medical attention." He didn't even ask her anything about it. She supposed he was doing it to pay her back for when she didn't ask if he had actually killed Mal when he had spoken to Ariadne about her.

Yusuf walked over and started to look at the cut on her eyebrow. "I'm sorry to say this Ariadne, but I think you might have to have a couple of stitches." Great, just what she needed.

She sighed heavily. "Just do it." It was probably best to just get this over and done with.

He walked back over to his area and got his medical supplies. Why he hadn't become a doctor she would never know.

"Is there anywhere else that would require stitches?" he inquired.

"No, the rest is just bruises. Although, my hip hurts a lot." She lifted up her shirt ever so slightly and he began to inspect the area.

"You're lucky he didn't get you in your stomach, it would have broken your ribs." Well that was a brighter note. Yusuf had jumped to conclusions, but he'd certainly got them right. She was glad to be away from Henry.

He started to stitch up the cut on her brow. It was painful. The three other men came out of Cobbs office, all with a glum look on their faces, Eames especially. He looked ready to explode. Or throw something.

Oh! There he goes! Eames grabbed the book on his desk and threw it on the ground, it was apparently in his way and he had no time to deal with it. Ariadne decided she was going to stay away from Eames for the remainder of the day.

Cobb and Arthur walked over to them and left Eames to sort of his anger.

"How are you doing?" Cobb asked.

"You could say I've been better." At least her sense of humour hadn't been knocked out of her whilst Henry knocked everything else apparently.

"We've been talking about your... situation. And we've come to the agreement that we need to sort Henry out." Cobb declared.

Ariadne looked between the pair of them with a questioning look on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note: Sorry for the change in the last chapter, I decided not to go with the Inception plan. I figured it would get too complicated for everyone. I have got rid of that now, but the rest is still the same.

* * *

><p>Cobb and Arthur walked over to them and left Eames to sort of his anger.<p>

"How are you doing?" Cobb asked.

"You could say I've been better." At least her sense of humour hadn't been knocked out of her whilst Henry knocked everything else apparently.

"We've been talking about your... situation. And we've come to the agreement that we need to sort Henry out." Cobb declared.

Ariadne looked between the pair of them with a questioning look on her face.

* * *

><p>"Okay, remind me why we're doing this again." The guys had filled her in on their 'plan' after Yusuf had finished stitching her up.<p>

"Trust me, I don't want to." Arthur replied.

"Arthur, it's the only way." Cobb looked at him.

"But this? It's too dangerous; I don't want to risk it!" Arthur started to raise his voice.

"It's fine." Ariadne said quietly.

"No, it's not! I don't want anything to happen again!" His voice was officially raised.

Ariadne had been a bit wary of the plan at first as well, but if it got Henry off her case and she could finally move on with her life, so be it. Arthur was completely against the idea, Eames loved it. But that was just because he could beat the crap out of the boy. Cobb and Yusuf just thought it ought to be done.

The plan was that Ariadne was going to invite Henry over to her apartment and they were supposedly supposed to 'make up'. Earlier that day at the warehouse she had left a message on his answer phone with her saying: "Hey, I'm so sorry about what happened. If you want an open relationship then let's do it! Do you want to come over later? I was hoping we could make up."

It was slutty, but as Eames said, it was a safe bet that he would reply to that. And he had, fifteen minutes later. He rang her back accepting her offer and said he'd be over at eight. He actually thought that she was asking for a 'booty call'. Arthur had left the room in a huff.

One of the good things about this plan was that she could go back to her apartment and actually get some make up to cover the horrid bruising on her face. That and she was fed up of having to wear sweatpants, even though they were Arthurs. She sort of wanted to look a bit professional. She couldn't wait to wear some normal clothes.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go back to my apartment. You know, have a shower and change out of these clothes. That and I am actually going to try and attempt to cover the bruising with some make up." She got up to leave; she didn't really want to hear them arguing anymore. They had also been over the plan a hundred and one times.

"I'll drive you; I will be out in a sec." Arthur called as she reached the warehouse door; she walked over to his car and waited, loving the fresh air and time alone to think.

Arthur turned to Cobb, "We can't go through with this. What if he does it again?" he was alarmed. "He might be more inclined to do it again."

"Arthur you know that is not going to ha..." Cobb tried to reassure, until Eames butted in.

"Cobb it's just because he is totally in love with her, I thought you would have noticed by now." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What? Arthur is this true?" Cobb turned on Arthur who was in a stunned silence.

"I, I don't know what you're talking about Eames..." he replied simply. He turned to leave.

"Told you he did, he wouldn't have acted like he'd seen a ghost if he didn't." Eames chuckled. "Totally busted."

Arthur turned to glare at the British man, before walking out the door. He saw Ariadne waiting by his car; he'd never seen anyone so beautiful, even when they had just been beaten up. He wasn't going to admit to Eames that he was right. Because Arthur knew, he had fallen for the girl hard and Eames would probably tease the pair of them for the rest of their lives if he ever found out.

The drive to her apartment was quiet; she knew that Arthur was thinking about what was going to happen. He was worried about her.

They pulled up to her apartment and he also got out of the car, he was actually going to walk her to her door. Henry would never do that; he would probably drop her off a block away from her apartment because his next girl was nearby. She couldn't help but keep comparing Henry to Arthur. Because Arthur was so much better than him, he would never do half the things Henry did, in fact, more than half.

Ariadne unlocked her door and walked into the messy apartment. Henry had knocked a lot of things over in his drunken state. The glass by the door also hadn't been cleaned up. Arthur had noticed this too and gave her a pointed look.

"I better get cleaning everything up, I don't want him to be suspicious from the moment he steps through the door." She said, looking around at the rest of the mess. It looked like a bomb had hit it; if someone had burgled her apartment it would look tidier than this.

"I'll help you." Was all he said, and then got to work cleaning the glass up. Cobb, Eames and Arthur had all been to her apartment that day to see the extent of the damage. They hadn't had time to sort anything out, and she wouldn't expect them to. They were too busy planning how they were going to 'sort Henry out'. They had also been to see if Henry was hanging around anywhere waiting for her to come home.

"But what if he turns up early? You can't be spotted when he arrives." He just looked at her with a 'don't give me that crap' expression on his face.

"Well I just won't stay for long. You said so yourself that all you wanted to do was go in the shower and change. You go and do that whilst I start to clean up." She sighed in defeat, and walked over to the bathroom. Before she walked in she turned to him.

"Thank you Arthur. For everything."

"No problem, Ari." She smiled at him then shut the door behind her and leaned against the cool surface. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>When Ariadne came out of the bathroom feeling clean, presentable and happy after finally getting rid of the headache she must have had for the past two days, she noticed what a great job Arthur had done at tidying the apartment. Even though she felt bad that he had done it all.<p>

She walked into the living room and he was sat on the sofa reading a newspaper that was at least three days old. It was more than likely that he wasn't even actually taking any of the information in.

Arthur stood up and walked over to her. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She looked down at the floor, anything to not see his beautiful eyes that she could easily drown in.

He lifted her chin up with his finger so she couldn't look away from those eyes. "Hey, everything is going to be fine. You know I'm going to be waiting right outside, so I will make sure nothing happens to you." She smiled up at his face. "I better go and wait, he could be here soon." He dropped his hand from underneath her chin and put it on the small of her back, drawing her in for a hug. "Don't worry." He kissed her on the forehead, and as quickly as it had happened, it was soon over. He turned away giving her one last knowing glance and headed out of the door.

She must have stood in the same spot, frozen, for about five minutes calculating what had just happened. A knock at the door pulled her out of her trance. Arthur was right, Henry was early.

Ariadne straightened out her top and steadily walked towards the door. She shakily took a deep breath and braced herself for what she was about to do. Ariadne looked through the peep hole to check it was actually him, and standing there was the man that repulsed her. But she couldn't let him know that.

She pulled the door open and put a big smile on her face.

"I knew you'd call." Then he walked straight into her apartment. Not even a 'hello'.

"Hi." One of them should at least say it.

"You look good." He told her, looking her up and down, his eyes lingering on her chest. Being subtle was never one of his strong points.

"You too." She lied. He was wearing _the_ jacket. Ariadne thought if she ever saw one like that again she would burn it.

She led him into the lounge and sat down; he followed, sitting extremely close to her. He moved his hand onto her leg and leaned down to her bringing his lips to hers. Gross. She remembered Eames telling her to go along with anything for the first part; she was going to get him back for this.

He eventually pulled back (hallelujah!) and stared at her, all she could think about was how creepy it seemed. He took off his jacket and Ariadne just wished she could throw it out of the window where a pack of lions would shred it to pieces, but obviously that wouldn't happen. Damn.

Henry held out his arms and brought her closer to him, couldn't they just sit at opposite sides of the sofa? Or stand, perhaps across the room from each other? She could only hope.

"I missed you." He murmured into her hair. She was going to be washing that again then later.

"You too." How awkward.

He started kissing her neck, and she just wished that the others would hurry up; she glanced at the clock on the wall when he wasn't looking. What were they waiting for? Ariadne didn't think she could put up with much more of this, and he'd only been there for a few minutes.

Henry pushed her down onto the sofa so that she was on her back looking up at him; he started to kiss her more forcefully and ferociously. She did not like it.

Between the kisses she had to say something. "Please... Henry... Stop."

He did, and then looked at her. "Why?" What was she going to say? Well done Ari, blag yourself out of this one!

"Why don't we just have a quiet night in?" Please. Please. Please.

"No." Great. Control freak or what? "Ari, I fucking loved you." He tried to kiss her again. Wait, did he just use past tense? Oh boy.

She pretended to let it slide, even though he used the nickname she'd banned from him. "I love you too." Let's just say it was more of a love/hate relationship.

He looked intently straight into her eyes; it was like he was trying to read her mind. Sorry Henry, humans can't really do that. Try another hobby. "Don't lie to me." He said gruffly.

"I'm not." This was going to end badly.

"I know when you're lying Ariadne." They hadn't even known each other that long, what a creep.

She was speechless, what was he getting at here?

"Who is he?" Now he'd lost her. "Is it that Arthur guy?"

The pieces of the puzzle were fitting together now; he thought she was with someone else. Ariadne decided it was probably best to act clueless; he was more inclined to hit her otherwise. Not saying that would stop him.

"Henry, what are you talking about?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. I know he has been here. I can smell his aftershave." When she'd said get a new hobby, she didn't mean try and turn into a sniffer dog.

"Henry, no one has been here. It's just me."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shouted at her: "I knew you were cheating on me, from the start!" Funny thing was, she actually hadn't. He had.

"No I wasn't! I promise." She shouted back.

"So you are now?"

"No!" Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Where were the others?

"You Liar!" Henry raised his hand to hit her across the face, yet again. He had no consideration; the swelling of his _last_ hit had only just gone down.

She readied herself for the pain, just as the door swung open and three men came in, who she was more than happy to see.


	6. Chapter 6

Henry looked up at the three men in alarm as they crashed through the door, guns held up. He realised his hand was still raised ready to hit Ariadne and immediately pulled it back down. He stepped up from the chair, arms raised in defeat. At least he understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Don't even think about hitting her." Arthur practically growled out. It was then that Henry realised Ariadne wasn't even slightly scared. She stood up and walked to the other side of the room, away from Henry. Now she didn't have to pretend to like him, she could show her repulsion.

Henry turned on Ariadne and pointed at her. "You. You set me up."

He knew he wouldn't be able to try anything with the three men so he thought he'd try with the girl. What a coward.

He walked towards Ariadne and tried to corner her, but before he could reach her Arthur put himself in front of her.

"I said: Don't even think about it." He scowled.

Arthur shoved Henry back so he fell onto the chair, he tried to get back up again but Cobb held him down. If he thought he was going to get anywhere, he had another thing coming.

Henry looked at the three men, then back at Ariadne. "How do you even know these people?" he asked like he was sickened by the idea.

She looked over at her co-workers and back at Henry nervously. He noticed her apprehension.

"Which one is he?" She didn't say anything; Ariadne knew where this was going. He turned on Arthur, seeing as he was the one that had defended her. "It's you isn't it?" Arthur sent a questioning look in Ariadnes direction. "You're the one who she's cheating with aren't you?"

"Henry, I already told you. I'm not..." He acted like he hadn't heard her and carried on talking to Arthur.

"You're that Arthur guy aren't you?" Henry looked like he wanted to get into a fist fight with Arthur. Ariadne knew who would win. He probably only wanted to because he knew that Arthur was more attractive than him, so Henry wanted to do some damage. He would probably get his hand broken in the process. "You're the one who is sleeping with _my_ girlfriend."

She was about to protest again until Arthur butted in. "What does it matter to you?" Hold on a second, slow down there.

"She is _my_ girlfriend, meaning no one else has the right to sleep with her." Henry was acting like Ariadne wasn't even there.

"I think you lost that right when you decided to beat her up mate." 1-0 to Arthur.

"And what do you know about that?" he grumbled.

"A lot more than you think I do." Arthurs bad boy smirk returned to his face. He looked even sexier when he did that. If that was even possible.

"Oh, like what?" He was challenging Arthur, was he sure he wanted to do that?

"Does the name Hayley ring a bell? No? How about Lauren? Maybe not. Err... Isobel? Oh that's right, the list is so long that you don't even remember half of the girls you have beaten up! My bad!" Don't mess with the point man, he _will_ find the dirt on you.

Henry tried to act like it didn't mean anything to him, and failed... miserably. Knowing this he tried to defend himself. "They deserved it!"

Cobb joined in on the row. "They deserved it? You think that innocent girls deserved to be beaten up by a grown man? What morals do you have?"

"They were all little sluts, I got bored. A man has got to do what he has got to do, you know?" He looked at the three men hoping one of them would agree, sorry but they're not all jackasses like you Henry.

"No." Eames responded for the team dryly. "I can't say I understand."

"They're just little bitches who think they can get what they want, they use me for sex." Ariadne coughed and tried to stifle a laugh, he glared at her. "They want me to pay for things and give them gifts all the time. They like to get deep and meaningful; I don't want to deal with that shit."

"So you beat them up?" Cobb asked.

"Well, you don't have to put it so horribly." He looked like he enjoyed talking about it, what a dick.

"You do realise what is going to happen to you when the police find out about this don't you?" Arthur asked him and Henry tried to stare him down. Arthur wouldn't back down if his life depended on it.

"They're not going to find out. You wouldn't tell them." It wasn't like they were his friends, why wouldn't they tell the police?

"Ah, you see that is where you are mistaken darling." Eames started to smile. "Because you just did." Eames pulled out a phone from behind his back.

The shock and horror that covered Henrys face was hilarious, he looked like Eames had just told him he was actually an alien that had been brought to earth by a wizard or something. Ariadne wished she had a camera.

Eames brought the phone up to his ear and started talking to the officer on the other end. "I gather that you heard everything then... I do hope that is enough information darlings... Oh stop, really, it was nothing... I just thought I would you get you an early Christmas present." Ariadne couldn't help but think to herself that Christmas was about a month and half away. "No! You don't have to get me anything darling..." Eames chuckled and gave the address to Ariadnes apartment.

Meanwhile, Henry looked like he wanted to kill someone. During the conversation on the phone, Arthur and Cobb had taken that opportunity to tie Henry to one of the dining chairs so that if he so much as tried to get away, he couldn't.

Henry started shouting obscenities at them, so Ariadne covered his mouth with his jacket and tied it around his neck. At least the horrid thing came in handy for something.

Eames hung up the phone and walked over to Ariadne. "Is that the jacket you were talking about?" He said to her.

"Yep." She replied staring at it with a hand on her hip, the satisfaction creeping over her.

"You're bloody right, it is hideous!" Henry glared at the pair of them. "Jesus, it looks like someone from the 1940s made it!"

"I thought it looked like it belonged to a farmer." Ariadne was finding this far too amusing.

"Yes! I see what you mean darling! _Definitely_ a farmers." He grinned at the realisation. "I'm just expecting to see a herd of sheep following him."

Ariadne couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. Cobb and Arthur, who had obviously been listening to their conversation, laughed too.

A knocking at the door sounded and Eames opened it. Half a dozen police officers were waiting outside her apartment door. Mrs Grimshaw from the floor below wouldn't be happy about the commotion. Well she wouldn't have to deal with it for much longer because Ariadne had come to the conclusion that she wanted to move to another apartment. She wasn't aware of what would happen to Henry, but he knew where she lived, and she had set him up. She did not want to risk him coming after her in the future.

The police arrested Henry and had a look on his face that suggested he had a rotten smell under his nose permanently and was still on his face as he got taken away. Cobb and Eames started to speak to one of the officers as Arthur walked over to her.

"You did great you know." He smiled.

"Thanks, I'm glad it's over." She replied, she hugged herself and was suddenly aware of the goose bumps on her arms.

He pulled her in for a hug. He murmured into her hair: "Don't worry about it; he's not going to get you now." She responded to the hug and took everything in.

Ariadne would always be able to trust these guys; they would always have her back. She was so glad that she had gone through with the dream business, or else she wouldn't have made the friends that she had now.

She pulled away from the hug. "You know I'm definitely going to be moving apartments. Too many memories." She looked around at the apartment she had once liked.

"You don't have to stay here for tonight if you don't want to." She looked up at him; if this wasn't Arthur she would have made a dirty innuendo in her mind. "You can stay at mine again and then tomorrow you can look for apartments. Knowing you, you will want to move out of this place quickly."

He knew her too well; the only thing was that she was actually planning on looking for an apartment that night.

"Okay, I better get some stuff together." She smiled at him and then walked through to her bedroom.

Arthur walked over to Cobb and Eames, where the police officer was just leaving. Eames raised an eyebrow at Arthur, he had more than likely just witnessed their hugging scene. Arthur decided to let it slide.

"So, what did they say?" he asked Cobb, trying to ignore a now smiling Eames. Sometimes Arthur hated that Eames was the forger, because he didn't miss anything. He probably even knew what he and Ariadne had just said. Cobb however was completely oblivious.

"We are all going to have to give a statement. But, the phone call was pretty self explanatory and that was recorded so they don't need much more evidence. We gave them the research you found so everything should be fine from here." Cobb explained.

The research Arthur had found showed that Henry had beaten up girls he was (or sometimes not even) in a relationship with. They had found a number of these girls who were willing to back them up and also write statements. Arthur had spent a long time looking for some dirt on Henry; he had covered his tracks well. But not well enough, it would seem.

"Good." Arthur said. "I'm glad it will soon be over with, let alone Ariadne."

"How is she?" Eames asked, suddenly concerned.

"A little shaken up I think, but that's understandable. We _did_ just trick her ex-boyfriend into being arrested and she _did_ find out that he had beaten up a number of girls before going out with her." Arthur stated. "I think she just needs some sleep."

"I don't think it would be wise if she stays here alone Arthur." Cobb lowered his voice.

"I know, she's staying at mine again." Oops, he had not meant to add the 'again'.

"Again?" Damn, he noticed that. So did Eames judging by the grin on his face. Crap.

"Yeah... Umm... She has for the last two days... She didn't want to stay here because she was worried that Henry would come back and it's not exactly safe. She couldn't exactly stay in the warehouse with her injuries or anything so..." He was rambling on now.

"I see..." Cobb looked deep in thought. He turned towards the door. "We better go, we all need some sleep really, and it's been a long day. Yusuf and Saito will want to know what happened as well."

Eames followed Cobb out of the door, but not before he turned to Arthur and winked at him. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do darling." Trust him.

Just as they left, Ariadne came walking into the living room looking sleep deprived. She didn't think she would be able to make it to Arthurs without falling asleep if they didn't go soon.

"You ready to go?" He asked with an adorable smile on his face.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Ariadne followed him out of the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Authors Note: Sorry for the short chapter, and for the long wait! I had major writers block!

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><p>Ariadne woke up that morning not to the sound of someone talking, not to a nightmare about Henry, but to the movement of the person next to her. Whom had their arms wrapped around her who had just moved to get closer to her, if that were possible.<p>

She turned to look at Arthur. Just as she had guessed, he was fast asleep. She leaned her head back down onto his chest where it had just been. She could get used to this. Ariadne didn't even know when they had gotten so close together, it must have been when they were asleep.

She glanced at the clock: 9:37am.

It felt much later than that, but they had gone to bed at eleven. Ariadne had been so worn out, she didn't even know why. After everything that had happened the night before with Henry, how he'd even nearly hit her... again. She didn't know what she would do without the guys. Ariadne couldn't believe it, they'd actually managed to have Henry caught. He got what he deserved. Shortly after they'd got back to Arthurs apartment Eames had sent them a very excited text saying "Haha! The bloody idiot is in jail darlings! We won't be seeing much of him anymore, nor that jacket- hey Ariadne." Arthur didn't understand the joke about the jacket though; he just assumed that it was another one of Eames' weird moments. But now she knew that she no longer had to be scared.

Right there, in Arthur's arms, Ariadne finally felt safe. She didn't want anything to change.

From her movement, Arthur started to stir. It was a shame because he looked so peaceful. She didn't want him to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and immediately noticed Ariadne, he smiled warmly at her. "Morning" he said gruffly. You could tell he'd only just woken up.

She smiled back at him. "Good morning."

He noticed his tight grip around her body and loosened it slightly, but not all the way. "Wow, I feel as though I have slept for days."

Ariadne laughed and rolled over to get her phone that was now beeping. She looked at who the message was from and saw 'The Best Person in the World – Eames'. He had stolen her phone one day at the warehouse and hadn't got round to changing it. She showed Arthur the name with a look of horror on her face and he chuckled softly, she could feel the movement from her head on his chest. "Never let Eames near your phone."

She opened the message, "Hope you two lovebirds didn't do something I wouldn't do last night. I take it you won't be coming to work today?" Oh dear.

She replied quickly to his message choosing to ignore his first comment, he is always jumping to conclusions. "Too busy looking for new apartments Eames..." She wouldn't encourage his teasing about her and Arthur.

Ariadne knew for a fact that they would be the butt of every joke Eames comes up with for the next few weeks.

* * *

><p>When the pair of them finally got up, they decided to go to the small cafe by Arthur's apartment for breakfast. Anyone looking in would come to the conclusion that they were on a date, perhaps after spending the night together. Maybe it was, but not entirely in that sense.<p>

Everything about it was like a date, although they didn't talk about work once. They found out everything about each other, it was nice. One thing was for sure, they got on like a house on fire. It was almost like they were in sync with each other.

Something that was never brought up though – Henry. Ariadne was glad that Arthur knew she didn't really want to talk about it. He knew it was a rare occasion that she opened up about things that upset her, the night in the warehouse being one of those.

They walked through the small park to get back to his apartment; it was a nice day so they thought they would make the most of the weather. They laughed and joked all the way back.

They made their way to his apartment and just as she rounded the corner to his door there was someone there she had not expected to see, ever again.

It was the girl from the bar in London.

Arthur, coming up behind her, stopped dead. He was shocked. That makes two of them. "Hey..." the girl said.

"Kate! What are you doing here?" he practically ran over and gave her a hug. Bitch.

"Surprise!" she said weakly.

"Why didn't you ring?" he asked.

"I didn't really have time to; I just sort of... came." It seemed like she finally noticed Ariadne. "Sorry... was I interrupting something?" she looked back at Arthur.

He looked like he didn't quite know what to say, whatever, she'll do it for him. "Oh no, its fine, I was just getting something." Well this is awkward.

Arthur unlocked the door and the three of them walked in, not quite knowing what to say to each other. It seemed like Kate noticed the tension, you could probably cut it with a knife.

She grabbed her bag that was by the door, thanking God that she had packed it earlier that morning as something to do whilst Arthur had been in the shower.

"Well, I'll see you... when I see you..." she said to Arthur, wow the awkwardness was really something.

"Yeah." He laughed nervously.

Ariadne walked over to the door and then turned to Kate. "It was nice to meet you." Yeah, she'll show Arthur that she is the nice one. Show him what he has missed out on.

The girl smiled brightly at her. "You too!" It was a shame, she looked like the sort of girl that you could easily be friends with. It was a shame that Arthur seemed to think the same.

She walked out of the door with one last smile at Arthur. You could say that she'd expected the morning to end a little differently.

* * *

><p>Authors Note: More is coming soon! I'm in the middle of writing it!<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Ariadne leaned against the door of her apartment, wondering what had she ever done wrong to give Arthur the impression that she wasn't interested in him. Especially in the last few days. But no, he just walked right up to her and he had hugged that girl Kate. Couldn't he have waited until she had left, seriously?

She walked into the living room and dropped her bag, not caring that it was going to make her now clean apartment messy. She flopped down on the sofa and closed her eyes.

Of course, why hadn't Ariadne seen it before? Arthur obviously had a girlfriend, haven't you seen him? He was gorgeous, charming, a gentleman, the most fucking sexy guy on the planet. Of course he had a girlfriend, but Ariadne had been too arrogant to see it. Did she really think that she had a shot with him?

"_It was worth a shot."_ The memory of their first kiss came crashing back down on her like a tonne of bricks. He had to be the most confusing person ever.

A knock at the door shook her out of her mind boggling thoughts. She groaned, she had no idea who it could be. She slowly got up and walked to the door, she'd take her time because they had disturbed her... from doing nothing.

She gradually opened the door looking straight into Arthurs eyes. She looked around him to check if the Kate girl was anywhere to be seen. She was probably back at his apartment waiting for him in his bedroom where, just hours ago, she had been. Looking back at him, he looked almost confused. As if to say "what the hell was that?" The funny thing was, she was giving him the exact same look.

"Can I come in?" he warily asked.

"Sure." She opened the door further to allow him to pass her.

He stopped and turned to look at her once she had shut the door. "Am I missing something here?" Getting straight to the point.

"I could ask you the very same thing." She said dryly. What was he missing? All he had to be missing was her, another one of the probably, many girls he was going around sleeping with. She tried to ignore the fact that they hadn't _actually_ slept together yet, but that was beside the point.

He obviously didn't know what to say.

"Just tell me something, Arthur, what do I actually mean to you?"

"What?" Even if she thought that there was no chance of the two of them being together. She at least had to know where she stood.

"Come on Arthur! 'Friends' don't sleep in the same bed and... Cuddle! 'Friends' don't go to breakfast dates! 'Friends' don't kiss on the job, Arthur!"

"I know." He responded to her outburst quietly.

"Well then what is with that girl?" she practically yelled.

"Hold on a second... Who?" Oh for God's sake Arthur, you know the girl that came to sleep with you twice that she knew of. Probably more.

"The girl that just turned up at your apartment!" she was close to crying, she wasn't even sure why. She was just mad, and she didn't cry in front of guys that she wanted to make a good impression on, whatever she already had cried in front of him.

He started to laugh, wow Arthur that really is the tip of the iceberg. Now he was laughing at her? She definitely thought she was going to cry.

"_That_ girl?" he laughed again. "Kate?"

Seriously, this was not playing it cool. She wanted to kick him.

"Kate is my sister." What the actual fuck? "Surely Eames, or even Cobb, told you in London."

She laughed sarcastically. "Ha! I don't think it quite, err, came up in our conversation, no."

She felt like a complete and utter dickhead, it was so obvious now.

Arthur and Kate had the exact same colour hair, same big brown eyes, and the friendly hug when he'd seen her, why she'd been so embarrassed when she'd seen Ariadne.

Ariadne felt like going and digging herself a hole and burying herself in it.

She covered her face with her hands. Man alive, she had a feeling she was never going to live this down. Eames and Cobb better sleep with one eye open because they are in trouble.

"That still doesn't mean you had to act the way you did." She was still mad, not so much at Arthur now, but just because she was his _sister_. She was just taking it out on Arthur. He probably didn't deserve it.

"I know." Okay, what?

"Arthur, you either like me or you don't. Just tell me, I don't give a fuck anymore." Tears welled up in her eyes, because she _did_ give a fuck. "You just don't give me any warning! You just prance around pretending that I don't exist half the time and then the other half? You are kissing me on the fucking job! What the fuck is that Arthur?" Her swearing was definitely exceeding. Oh, but it did not stop there.

"You just come and go like I'm a fucking, I don't know, a fucking drive-through! When you kissed me, it didn't work Arthur! It did not distract the projections; I think the only thing it distracted was me!"

"I'm sorry." He was being quiet, like he was contemplating something. Yes Arthur, just make her feel like she was the bad guy.

"I'm sorry? You should be! You don't just go around kissing people and then leaving them to think whether you do or don't like..."

She was interrupted by Arthur suddenly pushing her back against the door and crashing his lips down on hers. The kiss was long and forceful, like he had been waiting a very long time to do that. At first, she didn't know how to react. Whether to kick him in the crotch or kiss him back. She decided to go for the latter.

She stopped, and continued her sentence. "Leaving them to think whether you do or don't like them."

"Ari, I do like you." He gazed right into her eyes. "In fact, more than like you."

She nervously averted his eyes as she waited for the 'but'. It didn't come.

"I didn't know my sister was going to be coming today. If she hadn't, things would be a little different right now. You know, I think I may have to kick her ass."

She laughed; it was a croaky laugh from the crying, but a laugh nonetheless.

"I feel like such an idiot." She groaned.

"It was an easy mistake to make, especially since neither Eames nor Cobb told you in London."

"I know, they are so dead." He laughed out loud at this.

* * *

><p>Arthur stayed at Ariadnes apartment that night, although nothing happened. Ever the gentleman, he wanted to take things slow. Until the next morning.<p>

They hadn't been able to resist.

It was the best night of Ariadnes life.

Once they had cleared everything up, they had sat and talked about everything that they hadn't managed to fit in that morning at breakfast. He told her why his sister had turned up out of the blue; she had split up with her boyfriend. They talked until the early hours of the morning and had finally fallen asleep on the sofa. It was perfect.

Later that day, Ariadne went back to Arthurs apartment where she formally apologised to Kate for acting like such a dork. She hadn't seemed to mind. Kate had hugged her and they got talking about everything Arthur, there was no denying their relationship to Kate. She was like a freaking mind reader.

Arthur wasn't sure if he liked their new friendship as he seemed to wind up being the butt of every joke. He made a mental note to himself never to let his sister become good friends with Eames because that would end in disaster.

After a late phone call from Kate's ex-boyfriend telling her how much he loved her, she decided to go home and get back together with him. Much to Arthur's disappointment, he thought that he was a douche bag. But then, every guy that Kate would date, Arthur would think was a douche bag.

Ariadne and Arthur went to dinner that night where they bumped into Cobb and Eames. They hadn't expected to have to tell them so soon. But that saved one conversation; there was Saito, Yusuf and not forgetting Professor Miles, who recently had become a father figure for her, left to tell.

But now that she was with Arthur, Ariadne definitely knew something:

You can feel both Love and Lust.

* * *

><p>Authors Note: The End!<p>

There will be another Arthur/Ariadne fanfiction coming soon! I just need to write it... but rest assured, I have the idea!


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